健康的生豬生產(chǎn)體系是可持續(xù)的

29625248

多年以來，全球養(yǎng)豬業(yè)開發(fā)了居舍內(nèi)的養(yǎng)豬體系?，F(xiàn)在的問題是 — 豬必須適應(yīng)這些體系，還是這些體系是根據(jù)豬的需求設(shè)計的？該問題的答案可以幫助我們更深入地了解如何提升農(nóng)場的健康水平。

——Anna-Catharina Berge博士，奧特奇公司代表

世界動物衛(wèi)生組織（OIE）估計，養(yǎng)殖場動物疾病導(dǎo)致全球20％的食物生產(chǎn)損失。因此，動物的健康和福利對于未來的可持續(xù)生產(chǎn)體系至關(guān)重要。在應(yīng)對豬只的健康問題時，考慮疾病的流行病學(xué)三元素非常重要，疾病始終是由以下三個因素導(dǎo)致的：

1.豬

2.環(huán)境

3.致病病原體。

帶有觀景廊的養(yǎng)豬場增加了開放性和透明度。

攝影: Bert Jansen

對生豬福利的需求增加

在生豬生產(chǎn)中，對于生豬福利、高質(zhì)量產(chǎn)品、抗菌劑減量，環(huán)境可持續(xù)體系，生產(chǎn)過程中的公開和可追溯的需求在不斷提高。豬肉生產(chǎn)商為滿足消費者的期望正面臨巨大挑戰(zhàn)，在當(dāng)今這些期待在當(dāng)前市場和生產(chǎn)體系下很大程度無法達成。

為滿足當(dāng)前消費者需求和未來可持續(xù)發(fā)展目標(biāo)，有必要提高生豬的健康水平、改善畜牧業(yè)、提高生產(chǎn)效率，并最終建立起一個全球負責(zé)任的、可持續(xù)發(fā)展的體系。養(yǎng)豬環(huán)境、管理和營養(yǎng)能改善豬只的健康和福利，同時也能提高生產(chǎn)效率。因此，對于豬的健康和福利的投資是值得的，而且，這還能改善養(yǎng)豬人的福利。

如今，工業(yè)化養(yǎng)豬面臨著許多健康方面的挑戰(zhàn)。每個農(nóng)場面臨著生豬健康和福利的雙重挑戰(zhàn)，而疾病通常出現(xiàn)在生產(chǎn)體系的薄弱環(huán)節(jié)上。由于養(yǎng)豬業(yè)的關(guān)注點是努力改善生豬生產(chǎn)體系的生產(chǎn)效率，而往往無法兼顧生豬的需求。更確切的說，養(yǎng)豬業(yè)試圖讓豬適應(yīng)這樣的體系。

豬場的地方性疾病

其結(jié)果是各種疾病成為養(yǎng)豬場的地方病。鑒定出農(nóng)場發(fā)生疾病的風(fēng)險因素并關(guān)注其解決方案，比對動物實施藥物治療或接種疫苗更加重要。

雖然，抗生素、抗球蟲藥和疫苗等藥物是快速改善豬場健康狀況的有效手段。但是，這些獸醫(yī)治療不應(yīng)作為不考慮畜牧業(yè)、環(huán)境和飼料中存在疾病因素的風(fēng)險，而實施的單獨的永久性解決方案。人們通常會贊同“預(yù)防勝于治療”的說法，但多數(shù)情況下在農(nóng)場仍然難以付諸實施。

當(dāng)試圖優(yōu)化豬場的生豬健康時，人們通常會關(guān)注一種或幾種疾病。重要的是要迅速確定是哪一種主要的病原體抑制了豬的健康，并實施治療。然而，問題是一旦癥狀消退，疾病很容易復(fù)發(fā)并重復(fù)下去，或許在標(biāo)準(zhǔn)方案中還包括另一種治療方法。這很有可能就導(dǎo)致了過量使用抗生素。

抗生素過量使用正在威脅抗生素對人類和動物后代的功效。經(jīng)過治療后，我們必須堅持并繼續(xù)解決那些可能導(dǎo)致動物死于疾病的風(fēng)險因素，這些風(fēng)險因素可能來自管理、環(huán)境或營養(yǎng)。

這是創(chuàng)建“健康生產(chǎn)”最為重要的一步。全球?qū)τ趧游锷a(chǎn)中抗生素減量的目標(biāo)，將有助于整個養(yǎng)豬業(yè)通過適當(dāng)?shù)沫h(huán)境、飼養(yǎng)和飼料優(yōu)化動物健康和福利，從而使整個行業(yè)受益。這將提升豬的健康水平，提高生產(chǎn)力，并最終形成一個全球負責(zé)的、可持續(xù)的體系。

生物安全

生物安全對于防止將致病生物體引入農(nóng)場并防止在農(nóng)場內(nèi)傳播至關(guān)重要。豬場生物安全的改善與生產(chǎn)水平的提高，使用抗微生物菌劑和耐藥性降低有關(guān)。大多數(shù)豬場都需要集中精力加強內(nèi)部生物安全，對健康豬場的主要的挑戰(zhàn)來自于生豬自身，內(nèi)部生物安全可以減少傳播和影響。相比于“外部的生物安全”，“內(nèi)部的生物安全”對于日常工作的影響更大，許多農(nóng)民往往忽視了日常工作行為，導(dǎo)致增強了致病病原體的傳播。

免疫

在工業(yè)化生豬生產(chǎn)中，應(yīng)對各種疾病開發(fā)良好的免疫至關(guān)重要。良好的免疫始于 仔豬出生，仔豬能攝取好的初乳和營養(yǎng)。事實證明，疫苗對于預(yù)防傳染病的發(fā)病和傳播至關(guān)重要且具有很高的成本效益，因此對現(xiàn)代健康生產(chǎn)體系尤為重要。

然而，增強免疫力的措施不僅限于疫苗接種，還包括許多其他因素，例如基因選育、無病原體的動物、營養(yǎng)、免疫增強補充劑、霉菌毒素預(yù)防、減輕應(yīng)激，養(yǎng)殖密度和環(huán)境等因素。動物必須生活在應(yīng)激低，營養(yǎng)良好的環(huán)境中，才能有效地發(fā)展其疾病防御的能力。補充某些有機礦物質(zhì)，例如硒（Sel-Plex），有助于免疫發(fā)揮最佳功能。

年輕母豬和經(jīng)產(chǎn)母豬的妊娠和哺乳

必須尊重豬的生理和對環(huán)境的需求，這不僅是出于福利原因和消費者需求，而且是因為管理和環(huán)境壓力不利于生豬健康成長，并最終造成生產(chǎn)效率降低。我們在斷奶期的仔豬，成長期的豬和育成期的豬中可以觀察到的許多問題都可以追溯到妊娠和哺乳期的母豬和母豬的健康狀況。

豬如果在出生時體況差，終其一生也不會得到完全恢復(fù)。因此，必須確保母豬的良好健康和福利。放養(yǎng)居舍體系對于母豬的福利和健康非常重要。應(yīng)加強對于營養(yǎng)優(yōu)化的關(guān)注，因為這將影響母豬良好的初乳和哺乳能力。

水

母豬的供水通常不足或者不能達標(biāo)，這將直接影響母豬的采食量和泌乳量。飲水設(shè)備或飲水乳頭的微生物水質(zhì)很少被檢查，因此，在飲水體系中可能形成生物膜，進而影響到生豬腸道菌群和腸道健康。

應(yīng)激

斷奶期是仔豬經(jīng)歷的高應(yīng)激期，早期斷奶加上移動仔豬和窩仔件的混合使仔豬的應(yīng)激達到極限。重要的是要尊重仔豬的發(fā)育過程，而不應(yīng)僅僅是設(shè)法使其適應(yīng)我們的體系，因為斷奶的應(yīng)激會帶來長期的后果。

養(yǎng)殖密度、豬舍的衛(wèi)生條件、墊料、溫度、濕度和空氣質(zhì)量，僅是這幾項環(huán)境條件，卻對健康和福利產(chǎn)生巨大影響。

溫度：理想的環(huán)境溫度，需要完全適應(yīng)生豬的年齡和體重。

通風(fēng)和空氣質(zhì)量：良好的空氣質(zhì)量和通風(fēng)對于保持豬的健康和活力至關(guān)重要，目前的許多體系在這一方面都存在不足。許多農(nóng)場中氨的含量過高，這與呼吸系統(tǒng)疾病直接相關(guān)。

過度存欄：不幸的是過度存欄非常普遍，這會影響環(huán)境溫度和衛(wèi)生狀況，而且很多時候會導(dǎo)致清潔和消毒的減少以及縮短批次生豬的“空欄期”。

過度擁擠：過度擁擠還會帶來豬群的社交應(yīng)激，導(dǎo)致飲食和休息空間不足。此外，生豬的運輸和交易會造成很強的生理應(yīng)激，并可能傳播疾病，這種體系可能在未來的無抗生素生產(chǎn)體系中受到挑戰(zhàn)。

荷蘭一個養(yǎng)豬場里的生豬不僅有充足的空間，甚至還有加層空間。

攝影: Matthijs Verhagen

霉菌毒素

霉菌毒素在現(xiàn)代飼料中非常常見，是目前已知的最強毒素之一。但是，許多農(nóng)民低估了霉菌毒素的存在和風(fēng)險。必須評估霉菌毒素對生豬的風(fēng)險并采取適當(dāng)?shù)拇胧顼暳显系牟少?，適當(dāng)?shù)倪\輸和儲存方式，包括在飼料中加入廣譜真菌毒素吸附劑，例如Mycosorb。

健康的腸道

腸道健康是動物健康的關(guān)鍵。腸道包含著一個非?；钴S的免疫體系，腸道是豬只最先遭遇可能引起疾病的生物體（如細菌，病毒和寄生蟲）或有毒化合物（如霉菌毒素）的器官。平衡和多樣化的微生物群組對于最佳消化和養(yǎng)分吸收至關(guān)重要。

保持腸道健康的最重要的是通過提供最佳的飼料，以滿足特定年齡和生產(chǎn)階段生豬的營養(yǎng)需求。在不同的生長階段使用適當(dāng)?shù)娘暳戏浅Ｖ匾?，仔豬的斷奶時間和斷奶體系規(guī)劃需要讓仔豬從采食母乳過渡到采食固體飼料上來。

多階段飼喂體系和精準(zhǔn)飼喂不僅可以提高生產(chǎn)效率而且是對提高豬只健康水平的重要工具。膳食補充劑（例如酵母衍生品（Actigen））已被證明可以優(yōu)化腸道結(jié)構(gòu)，腸道菌群并提高飼料效率。與無機礦物質(zhì)相比，有機礦物質(zhì)更容易被吸收、儲存和消化，對免疫、生長和代謝功能都非常重要。

奧特奇（Alltech）發(fā)起的一項業(yè)界減少抗生素使用規(guī)劃可以幫助農(nóng)民開發(fā)疾病預(yù)防并建立一套健康的生產(chǎn)體系。該規(guī)劃提供審計、外部專業(yè)知識、指導(dǎo)以及應(yīng)用經(jīng)過驗證的飼喂技術(shù)解決方案，以改善豬場的健康水平和生產(chǎn)效率。奧特奇針對單獨豬場量身定制的抗生素減量規(guī)劃可以獨立申請，也可以納入現(xiàn)有的國家標(biāo)準(zhǔn)規(guī)劃中。

Healthy Pig Production Systems Are Sustainable

Over the years, the global swine industry has designed systems to keep pigs in. Now the question is – did the pigs have to adapt to the systems or were the systems designed to the pigs’ needs? The answer to that question can help to gain more insight how to make a farm healthier.

By Dr Anna-Catharina Berge, on behalf of Alltech

The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) estimates that 20% of global food production is lost due to diseases in farmed animals. Therefore, health and welfare of animals is crucial for future sustainable production systems. When working with pig health it is very important to consider the epidemiological triad of disease, where disease is always a consequence of the 3 factors:

1.      the pig,

2.      the environment and

3.      the disease-causing agent.

A pig farm with a viewing gallery increases openness and transparency.

Photo: Bert Jansen

Increasing demands on pig welfare

There are increasing demands on pig welfare, high quality products, low antimicrobial use, environmentally sustainable systems, openness and traceability in pig production. Pig meat producers are facing huge challenges to meet consumer expectations that cannot be met a lot of time in the current market and production systems.

To meet current consumer demands and future sustainability goals it is necessary to have a higher level of pig health, improved husbandry, increased productivity and ultimately a globally responsible and sustainable system. Improvements in pig environment, management and nutrition enhance health and welfare, while productivity increase. Therefore, investments in pig health and welfare are cost-effective and furthermore they improve the welfare of those working with the pigs.

There are numerous health challenges facing the industrialised pig production these days. Every farm has a combination of challenges to their pigs’ health and welfare and the diseases present are usually linked to the weaknesses of the production system. As the industry has attempted to improve productivity and efficiency of pig production systems, often systems were not adapted to the needs of the pigs. Rather, the industry tried to adapt the pigs to the systems.

Endemic diseases in pig farms

The result has been various diseases have become endemic in pig farms. It is very important to identify the risk factors for the diseases present on the farm and focus on those, rather than just medicating or vaccinating the animals. Medicines such as antibiotics, anticoccidials and vaccines are valuable tools that can immediately assist a farmer to optimise the health of the pigs. However, these veterinary treatments should not be the sole permanent solutions without considering the risks for disease found in husbandry, environment and feed. The saying ‘prevention is better than cure’ is often embraced, but the implementation of this saying on the farm is many times still lacking.

It is common to focus on one or several diseases when trying to optimise the pig health on a farm. It is important to quickly determine what major disease agent is suppressing health in the pigs and treat it. However, once the symptoms have subsided, it is way too easy to simply just continue as previously, with possibly, another treatment included in the standard protocols. This is likely the strategy that had led the industry into the antibiotic overuse situation that is now threatening the efficacy of our antibiotics for future generations of humans and animals. After treatment, it is necessary to move on and address the risk factors, that could be management, environment or nutrition, that made the animals succumb to disease.

That is the most important step to create ‘Healthy production’. The global goal to reduce antimicrobial use in animal production will thereby assist the whole pig industry to optimise animal health and welfare through proper environment, husbandry and feed, and thereby the whole sector will benefit. This will lead to higher level of pig health, increased productivity, and ultimately a globally responsible and sustainable system.

Biosecurity

Biosecurity is critical in preventing the introduction of disease-causing organisms on a farm and prevent the spread within a farm. Higher levels of biosecurity in pig farms has been shown to be associated with higher levels of production, and decreased antimicrobial use and resistance. Most pig farms need to focus on improving internal biosecurity, since the major challenges for the farms’ health are already found in the pigs, and thereby internal biosecurity can reduce the spread and impact. ‘Internal biosecurity’ has a larger impact on the everyday working routines than ‘external biosecurity’ and many farmers tend to ignore that they are collaborating with the disease-causing agent in spreading it around.

Immunity

A good developed immunity to various diseases is essential in industrial pig production. A good immunity in a piglet starts at birth, with good colostrum intake and nutrition. Vaccines have proven to be crucial and very cost-effective in preventing the onset and spread of infectious diseases and therefore crucial in the modern healthy production system. However, immune-enhancing measures are not limited to vaccinations but include numerous other factors such as genetic selection, pathogen-free animals, nutrition, immune-enhancing supplements, mycotoxin prevention, stress reduction, stocking density and environmental factors. It is essential that the animals live in a low stress environment with good nutrition to be able to effectively develop their disease defence. Supplementation of certain organic minerals, such as selenium (Sel-Plex), aid in the optimal functioning of the immune-system.

Gestating and lactating gilts and sows

It is imperative to respect the pig’s physiological and environmental needs, not only for welfare reasons and consumers demands, but also because management and environmental stress are detrimental for health and ultimately productivity. Many of the challenges that we observe in weaners, growers and finishers can be traced back to the health of the gestating and lactating gilts and sows. A pig will never get over a bad start in life. Therefore, it is essential to assure that the health and welfare of the sows is not compromised. Free housing systems for the gestating sows are very important for the sow’s welfare and health. Optimal nutrition cannot be emphasised enough as that will impact her ability to produce a good colostrum and lactation.

Water

The water supply to the sow is often insufficient or compromised and this will directly impact her feed intake and milk production. Microbial water quality is rarely checked in the drinkers or nipples, and therefore it is possible that biofilm formation occurs in the systems that can influence the pigs gut flora and enteric health.

Stress

The moment of highest stress to the piglets is weaning, and an early weaning combined with moving of piglets and commingling of litters is stressing the piglets to the limit. It is important to respect the development of the young piglets and not just try to make them adapt to our systems, since there are long-term consequences of weaning stress.

Stocking density, hygienic conditions of housing, bedding material, temperature, humidity and air quality are just a few environmental conditions that have a huge influence on health and welfare.

Temperature: The ideal environmental temperature needs to be perfectly adapted to the age and weight of the pigs.

Ventilation & air quality: Good air quality and ventilation is essential to keep our pigs healthy and vigorous, and many of our current systems have weaknesses in this area. High levels of ammonia are present in many farms, and this is directly linked to respiratory disease.

Overstocking: Overstocking is unfortunately way too common, and this impacts the environmental temperature and hygiene, and many times it leads to the reduction in cleaning and disinfection and ‘time empty’ between batches of pigs.

Overcrowding: Overcrowding also imposes a social stress with insufficient eating and resting space. Furthermore, transport and trade in live pigs impose high physiological stress and can spread diseases and this system may be challenged in future non-antibiotic systems.

These grower pigs in a pig farm in the Netherlands are stocked with plenty of space and even have their own elevated platform.

Photo: Matthijs Verhagen

Mycotoxins

Mycotoxins are highly prevalent in our modern feed sources and some of the most potent toxins known. Many farmers under-estimate the mycotoxin presence and risks. It is imperative to evaluate the risks of mycotoxins for the pigs and take appropriate measures, such as sourcing of feed ingredients, proper transport and storage of feed, and including a broad-spectrum mycotoxin-binder such as Mycosorb in the feed.

Healthy gut

A healthy gut is a key to a healthy animal. The gut contains a very active immune system, and this is the location where the pig first encounters potential disease-causing organisms such as bacteria, viruses and parasites, or toxic compounds such as mycotoxins. A balanced and diverse microbial composition is critical for optimal digestion and nutrient uptake. The most important tool for good gut health is to provide the best feed possible that meets the nutritional needs for the specific age and stage of production. Appropriate feed for the various stages of development is very important and weaning times and weaning systems in piglets need to allow the piglets to transition from sow’s milk to solid feeds. Multi-phase feeding systems and precision feeding are valuable tools not only for productivity, but also for health. Dietary supplements such as yeast-derived products (Actigen) have been shown to optimise gut structure, gut microflora, and improve feed efficiency. Organic minerals that are more easily absorbed, stored and assimilated by the body compared to their inorganic counterparts are very important for immunity, growth and metabolic functions.

An industry-initiated antibiotic reduction programme by Alltech can assist farmers to develop their disease prevention programme and create a healthy production system. It provides audits, external expertise, coaching as well as applying proven feed technological solutions to improve health and productivity. Alltech’s antibiotic reduction programme, tailored to the individual producer, can be applied as stand-alone programme or fit into existing national programmes.

原創(chuàng)： Anna-Catharina Misset 世界畜牧